MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE—This is what you get when a campaign spends $1,200 per vote for a fourth-place finish in New Hampshire: the chance to chase the Story Slams and College Transfer Fairs out of a community college multi-purpose room, and party like, well, you're standing around in a community college multi-purpose room.

About a hundred Jeb Bush supporters gathered in a multi-purpose room at Manchester Community College Tuesday night to celebrate the former Florida governor's participation in the New Hampshire primary. The shindig kicked off at 6 p.m., so the pigs in blankets–a tone-deaf Republican party favorite—were about done for by the time the polls closed. The crowd was so morose that they barely flinched when, just seconds after Wolf Blitzer called it all for Trump and Sanders, the video feed made an abrupt shift to Headline News and Nancy Grace. "Breaking News Tonight!" screeched the harridan of true crime horror, "Claims a well-respected pediatric dentist makes children scream in pain!"

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The "psycho dentist" hails from Florida, as do two of the remaining Republican presidential candidates. For their parts, however, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are practiced administrators of general anesthetics. But with kamikaze Chris Christie having presently taken Rubio out of contention, a lot of hopes are riding on Bush to do … something.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who despite dropping out of the race in December picked up 65 votes last night, told reporters at the Bush event that Bush had grown as a candidate and would perform even better in South Carolina. "I think Jeb had his back to the wall and he rose to the occasion," Graham said, pitching metaphors like so many ripe Carolina peaches. "Now we're up on our feet, and we're going to run in South Carolina."

Bush had been rusty on the campaign trail. He hasn't held elective office since 2007, and it showed. He'd been letting his Super PAC take the swings at Trump, but in the last days of the campaign was suddenly willing to own them himself. It was a hopeful sign: What the established Republican Party needs is not only a viable candidate, but a candidate who can deliver the blows to Trump that the fawning media won't. (If he needed any more evidence, Fox News gave Bush's concession speech just 48 seconds before cutting to Trump, who, true to form, showed total disregard for conventional courtesies like waiting for your opponents to finish their concession speeches before claiming victory.)

But who was Bush going after this morning? John Kasich.

"And the one telling thing that he did," Bush, speaking from South Carolina, said on MSNBC's MorningJoe, "apart from not really focusing on rebuilding the military, which I think is important down here and in our country, is that when he had a chance, he expanded Obamacare through Medicaid…. And he'll have to explain that down here where Obamacare, the people want it repealed. They don't want it expanded." Late last night, the campaign circulated an internal memo– which Bush claimed this morning not to have not seen—showing it would go after Kasich and Rubio, who "has demonstrated no respect for the nomination process and expects this to be a coronation." The memo also suggested Bush did well [sic] in New Hampshire because "he remains the only GOP candidate willing to take on Donald Trump," who, unlike Rubio, apparently shows complete respect for the nomination process and would never expect a coronation.

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Bush and his Super PAC, Right to Rise, together spent a mind-boggling $36.1 million in the Granite State. Bush's Super PAC is still flush, of course—it has $495,000 in ad time in South Carolina booked, according to the Tracking Firm—but that's no help with direct campaign expenses. According to one Bush advisor, the campaign itself has just enough money to carry it to South Carolina. "We just got to spend this really well," the advisor said last night, continuing, "I'd just like a little bit better delta between us and Marco."

South Carolina's Republican Presidential Preference Primary (PPP) is Saturday, February 20, a full week before the Democrats'. While both are "open" primaries, there are some significant differences from New Hampshire's open primary that can affect the outcomes. Voters can choose to vote in either primary, but cannot vote in both—there can be no last-minute independent dithering between Bernie and the Trumpster. And while New Hampshire allows for same-day voter registration, South Carolina requires voters to be registered one month before the primary. Anyone who hopes to vote in the Republican PPP must have registered by January 20, effectively shutting out anyone inspired by the noise from New Hampshire.

Former Republican Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, who had once been on Marco Rubio's short list of viable candidates to replace him in the U.S. Senate, found himself newly energized last night as the networks juggled the fourth place numbers. "This is a comeback—they said it was Marco on the rise, and the opposite had happened." But even if perceptions are pretty much everything, they don't give Olympic medals for fourth place. (Just ask Vermin Supreme, whose promise to buy everybody a pony only snagged him fourth place in last night's Democratic voting.) And for fifth? Well, the junior senator from Florida's homeboys are about ready to throw him to the gators. In case Marco wasn't getting it, last week eight former and current Florida Republican House Speakers, including Weatherford, ran an open letter in the Manchester Union Leader saying exactly that. "While Senator Rubio is a tremendous political talent, he is not the best choice to serve as Commander-in-Chief," the ad ran. "We like and admire Marco, but as individuals who have personally witnessed the leadership of both candidates, we are unequivocal in our belief that Governor Bush is the best choice to be our next president." And that was before Marco Roboto's debate debacle.

Over 300 media members showed up to cover Marco Rubio's primary night event, proving once again that the press is harder to turn than the Queen Mary. Civilians caught on sooner. According to campaign sources, almost 800 people had requested tickets for the event, but about 200 were non-shows.

Back when things were looking good, the campaign nabbed the choice Radisson Ballroom in downtown Manchester for its celebration. And it was against this backdrop of gilt and velveteen that Rubio made his apologies.

"I know many people are disappointed," conceded Rubio, whose five o'clock shadow gave his boyish good looks a slightly dissolute look. "I'm disappointed with tonight. I want you to understand something. I want to you to understand. Our disappointment tonight is not on you. It's on me. It's on me. I did not do well on Saturday night, I did not do well, so listen to this: That will never happen again."

"And let me tell you why," Rubio continued, his fingers pointing and flailing, "Let me tell you why. Let me tell you why it will never happen again. It's not about me. It's not about the campaign. It is about this election. It is about this election. It is about what's at stake in this election. You see, for the last seven years we have a president that's doing tremendous damage to this country. Tremendous damage to this country…."

For Jeb Bush to make Robot Rubio his target is like knocking over an overwound toy. There are far bigger tinhorns to go after, if only he can show the steel.